Trade Finance Guide

A Quick Reference for U.S. Exporters is designed to help U.S. companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, learn the basic fundamentals of trade finance so that they can turn their export opportunities into actual sales and to achieve the ultimate goal of getting paid—especially on time—for those sales. Concise, two-page chapters offer the basics of numerous financing techniques, from open accounts, to forfaiting to government assisted foreign buyer financing.

» Introduction
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Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners, and their Access to Financial Capital
Year 2012

Immigrants make a significant contribution to business ownership and formation, according to a new study from the Office of Advocacy. Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners, and their Access to Financial Capital found that 10 percent of immigrants own a business. Nearly 20 percent of immigrant-owned businesses started with $50,000 or more in startup capital, compared to 15.9 percent for non-immigrant-owned business.

» Research Summary
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Connecting Small Manufacturers with the Capital Needed to Grow, Compete, and Succeed: Small Manufacturers Capital Access Inventory and Needs Assessment Report
November 2011

This report summarizes the findings and recommendations from the environmental scan conducted during the capital access assessment project. The content of the report is not intended to provide an academic, in-depth study of the capital market. Instead, the goal of the assessment was to provide MEP a working basis for understanding the capital access challenges currently being experienced by SMEs and possible solutions for addressing these challenges. The observations and recommendations contained are the opinions of the authors (Booz Allen Hamilton project team) and are based upon the information collected through interviews with a representative set of stakeholders, existing data, and surveys conducted by the several reputable organizations referenced in this document.

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Disparities in Capital Access between Minority and Non-Minority Businesses: The Troubling Reality of Capital Limitations Faced by MBEs.
Year 2010

Disparities in Capital Access between Minority and Non-Minority Businesses: The Troubling Reality of Capital Limitations Faced by MBEs provides new findings on disparities in capital access between minority businesses and non-minority businesses after controlling for a number of factors including size of firm and credit worthiness among other. The report includes a review of the 2008 recession and financial crisis which affected the ability of minority businesses to secure the capital they need to establish and grow their businesses. It also provides and overview of the barriers to capital access faced by minority businesses.

» Executive Summary - Disparities in Capital Access between Minority and Non-Minority Businesses
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Accelerating Job Creation & Economic Productivity
Year 2004
Accelerating Job Creation & Economic Productivity discusses how minority business enterprises (MBEs) present an historic and dynamic growth opportunity for the U.S. economy. MBEs are one of the fastest-growing sectors of the business community, however, they continue to face systemic barriers in accessing capital markets, whether debt or equity, to grow their businesses. To develop minority firms of the scale and size required to have significant economic impact, minority entrepreneurs must obtain the financing critical to expand their businesses.  The report presents recommendations made by a group of financing experts and community leaders from the public and private sectors brought together by MBDA.  The group focused on identifying and expanding access to capital issues for minority business enterprises.

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Democratizing Capital for Emerging Domestic Markets
Year 2000
Economic growth cannot be sustained without inclusion of Minority Business and the infusion of capital into those businesses. Democratizing Capital for Emerging Domestic Markets provides recommendations for increasing financing opportunities for minority businesses.

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